Our Thanksgiving

Thursday

Thanksgiving morning was a rather interesting one. I woke up and began cooking my part of Thanksgiving dinner, and spoke these words, which will not soon be forgotten, "You could throw the potato peelings in the garbage instead of putting them down the disposer."

Then Craig spoke this infamous word, "Meh!"

All of this led to a clogged sink, which eventually led to this:

But we still managed to get all of our food prepared, get everyone out the door and we were only 20 minutes late. I thought that was rather impressive myself ;)

We had to try hard to be on time because we had the turkey. Well, we had the cutest turkey.

Snacking on some appetizers

Carving the Turkey. The actual turkey that my parents cooked.

Time to eat.

Look at the cute place cards.

We love eggnog!

After dinner fun and games!

Big H built this all by himself!

Look at Baby M's cute smile.

While waiting for our belly's to have room for pie we all enjoyed the annual viewing of Planes, Trains and Automobiles

After some pie, and a bath for the boys, it was time to for the kids to receive their Christmas pajama's. This is a tradition Craig and I started last year.



I have never seen two boys so thrilled over pajama's. They loved them! That's why we made them out of fleece, and that's why we fringed the bottoms. Thanks for your help with making the pajama's Grandma A! These pictures say it all! It was very much appreciated!

Go give Baby M his pj's.

Now lets get a picture.

What a great Thanksgiving! My Grandparents joined us as well, but they did a good job of avoiding the camera.

Friday

We put the boys down for bed at Grandma's and Grandpa's house so Craig and I could take part in some Black Friday Shopping.

We got some awesome deals, and most of our Christmas shopping done. Then we enjoyed a nice relaxing Friday morning. Thanks for watching the boys Grandma and Grandpa A!

Saturday

we anxiously awaited a visit from Craig's sister Shay, her family, and Grandma and Grandpa S.




Grandma and Grandpa S took all of us to Jumpin' Jacks. We had so much fun!

Give Grandma five!

It was so great to see everyone. We really appreciate the effort it took to come up and visit with us!

Sunday

I finished decorating our Christmas Tree. Time for another great Holiday.

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday November 19, 2010: Visiting Daddy's Work

Last Friday Craig had to attend a meeting at work, so we all piled in the car and drove up to Salt Lake to see where Daddy works.

The boys and I waited in this room while Dad went to his meeting. Some kids came from a local charter school to spend time with the seniors. It was one of the most awesome things I've ever seen.

This is Big H playing with a resident's dog.


After the meeting we walked around to meet some of the residents Craig helps care for. They were all so complimentary of Craig, and they kept telling me what a wonderful and caring man he is. Everyone we met was really sweet.




Can't you just see all the happiness and pride coming from that smile of his? Craig loves his new job!




Everyone loved the boys! They kept saying how cute and good they are.





After our visit to Dad's work we stopped at Gardener Village for a little Christmas shopping.





It was such a fun filled day, and amazingly stress free considering.

The Stratton House of Learning

The standards for nursery have changed since the last time I associated with it- which was when my Nephew K was going. I was way unprepared for what nursery would be like for the boys, and I didn't prepare them very well either. I definitely appreciate what the leaders have done. I have seen the advantages to having a structured and scheduled environment. And with young kids that sort of thing could only help not hurt. The only problem is that the twins just aren't used to doing activities like coloring and singing. I can't even get them to sit down and watch T.V. for more than 5 minutes. I decided I should try and get them more used to the things they'd be doing in nursery. So three days a week we sit down, and have an hour or so of lessons- I can't think of a better way to describe it.

We start off with some dancing. My goal is to try and get the twins to follow my directions, and do as I'm doing. They are very good at jumping when I ask them to.




Then we watch a movie. We've been watching Leap Frog's The Letter Factory letter's 'A' through 'D'. I try to get the boys to sing along with the songs. They have actually started to say some of the letter sounds.




Then we color. We've been coloring pictures of squares. The boys have both started coloring on their own. Big H was the first and the next day Little H picked it up- and yes, I saved both those papers.




After coloring we do singing time. We sing about 3 songs, and I try to get them to do the actions with me.

When all is said and done we have a snack then we play with toys, and life, in the Stratton home, returns to it's normal self. As normal as we know how to be at least.

A Different Approach

I'll be sending Christmas Cards to close friends and family. Those that want to be sent one through snail mail please let me know. Otherwise I'll just email you one and, for those who's email I don't have, I'll post it on the blog. Sorry, I'm trying to keep up the tradition but paying for postage is getting harder and harder all the time.

Baby M's Blessing Pics